I’m back! I have been meaning to get back to blogging for awhile now. The only real reason why I stopped was because I was never home and felt like I just didn’t have time. (That’s probably just a bad excuse!) But now I have only a part time job, and am back to cooking at least 3 times a week. So my goal now is to try to blog about what I’m cooking at least 1-2 times a week. We’ll see how that goes!
Speaking of goals, here are a few things I want to work on this year. I don’t necessarily think they are ‘New Years Resolutions’. I think that’s too hard to stick to. But there are just some things that I will try to work on each week.
The real reason I am able to cook dinner throughout the weeks is all because of meal planning. If I didn’t meal plan, I probably wouldn’t cook. When I know is time to grocery shop, I go through my cookbooks and through Pinterest and pick 3-4 meals that I will cook that week. I look at what I’m doing that week and pick realistic meals for how much time/energy I will have each night. Then I add all the ingredients I will need to my grocery list. This is seriously a life saver. So I want to make sure that every week I’m looking into new meals to make and making sure the ingredients get on my shopping list.
Another thing I seriously need to do is get my butt to the gym. I’m a biiiiiiiig procrastinator. I’ve been saying I’m going to go to the gym since December 25th. Have I gone yet? No. But I swear I will get there eventually. My best friend got engaged on Christmas and is getting married this October. I don’t need to lose weigh but I would like to get toned/in shape for the wedding. Its on my to-do list. Hopefully I can cross that off sooner rather than later.
One thing that I have already started is reading more. I definitely go through phases of reading a lot then not reading at all. Right now I’m in the ‘Read All The Time’ phase. I’ve read five books since January (just finished one this morning!). I feel like its a better way to spend my free time then just sitting around rotting my brain on reality tv. I’m excited to start a new book and like that it gives me something to look forward to. (I’m open to any suggestions about what to read next!)
And my biggest goal of this year is to move. I need to get out of my parents house ASAP. I’ve also been thinking about this a lot. Then yesterday my house started making noises! Like some ‘Paranormal Activity’ activity. While I was sitting in my living room the tv downstairs started blaring. Honestly it was so loud that I could hear it clearly upstairs. The scariest part? No one else was home except me. My family thinks the cats must have stepped on the remote control. Okay, maybe that’s what happened. Except that it happened twice today. That’s just too creepy for me, since its never happened before. I need to get out of here.
And now onto the good stuff… the food! I was watching the Food Network the other day and Rachael Ray was a new show called ‘Rachael Ray’s 3 in a Bag’. When I watched her make Chicken in a Sack I knew that I had to make it. It looks so easy yet so delicious!
Ingredients:
- 3 Chicken breasts
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- green beans
- 2 shallots, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- olive oil
- a handful of basil
- 3 Tbsp butter
- parsley
- salt & pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pound out the chicken breast a little bit so that they are evenly sized. Salt and pepper the chicken. Combine the tomatoes, green peppers, shallots, garlic, olive oil, and basil. (The original recipe called for tarragon, but I didn’t have any so I used basil instead.) Salt and pepper the veggies. Cut three pieces of parchment paper. I cut mine so they were basically the same size as my baking sheet, but probably could have used them a little longer. Place 1/3 of the veggie mixture in the center of a piece of parchment paper. Top with one piece of chicken. Place 1 Tbsp of butter on top of the chicken and sprinkle with parsley. Pull up two sides of the parchment and roll it together, then slowly roll down each side to make a sack. Repeat for the other two pieces of chicken. Place sacks on a baking sheet and cook for 25-30 minutes. When everything is cooked, slide the entire contents of the sack onto a plate and serve!
Although everything was good, the chicken came out a little more bland then I would have liked. We used seasoned salt to give it a little more flavor, then it was perfect!
I can’t wait to make this meal in the summer. We always grow green beans and tomatoes in our garden, so this will be a perfect recipe.
Happy Cooking!!
Kathleen's Kitchen 